Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Mavs, Grizzlies, Aldridge, Barea

October 6th, 2014 at 3:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

Charlie Villanueva has impressed Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, who insists Villanueva’s lack of guaranteed money won’t prevent the team from keeping him for opening night, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com chronicles.

“It’s going to come down to who plays the best, who fills needs,” Carlisle said. “And we’ll go from there. Mark [Cuban]’s the kind of owner, he’s not going to let a few dollars get in the way of keeping the right team together.”

Still, it’d cost the Mavs, who have 15 guaranteed contracts plus partial guarantees with Eric Griffin and Ivan Johnson, at least $991,482 in dead money to waive the players necessary for them to keep Villanueva, unless they can work out some sort of trade. While we wait to see just how much Cuban is willing to sacrifice, here’s more from the Western Conference:

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace told Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal that he wasn’t explicitly told not to perform his duties while former CEO Jason Levien was in charge of the team, as Tillery writes in a subscription-only piece. Wallace clarified that he made his own choice to remove himself from player personnel, Tillery notes. Wallace also made a run at openings with the Kings last year and Cavs earlier this year, according to Tillery.
The new TV deal won’t affect LaMarcus Aldridge‘s plan to sign a long-term deal with the Blazers this summer, a source tells The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman, pointing out that the maximum salary goes up as the salary cap does. Still, it’s worth noting that cap figures only affect the amount of a max contract for the first season of the deal, and since it appears unlikely the cap will rise dramatically until the summer of 2016, there’s still plenty of incentive for Aldridge to sign a short-term deal instead.
Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders didn’t seem merely to be trying to up J.J. Barea‘s trade value when he said the guard was one of the team’s best performers in camp again this year, writes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.
The NBA’s national TV deal isn’t the only one due for a sharp increase, as some predictions have the Clippers local TV rights fees increasing to $80MM annually from the $20MM the team receives each year under the current arrangement, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The existing deal is up after the 2015/16 season, Kennedy notes (on Twitter).

Heat Rumors: 2016, Brown, Beasley, LeBron

October 6th, 2014 at 11:21am CST by Chuck Myron

The Heat aren’t title favorites anymore, but they remain a compelling team as the 2014/15 season approaches, with questions surrounding just how well they can play without LeBron James and whether Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade can fill the superstar void. Here’s the latest from South Beach:

Team president Pat Riley says he isn’t planning to make moves that cut into the team’s cap flexibility for the summer of 2016, observes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. That’s when the NBA starts receiving new TV revenue and several of the contracts Miami signed this summer come off the books. The Heat have about $29.5MM in commitments for the 2016/17 season.
Riley praised the way Shannon Brown, who’s on a non-guaranteed deal, performed so far in training camp, as Winderman writes in a separate piece. Riley also expressed pleasure about Shawne Williams, whose addition largely assured Michael Beasley wouldn’t be back, Winderman notes. “I love Mike, but we’re moving on,” Riley said. “When [LeBron James] left, we just cleaned the table. It’s time to move on. It really had nothing to do with anything but we’re just moving in another direction, in another way, and it was nothing punitive, there was nothing bad. I wish him nothing but the best. But we decided, in the long run, Josh McRoberts and Shawne, Chris [Bosh], Chris Andersen, Udonis [Haslem] and the guys we had there, I didn’t want him to be put in the position of not playing, maybe.” An earlier report indicated that some in the Heat organization had concerns about Beasley’s defense and maturity.
There are also some within the Heat who are upset that James ignored many of Riley’s attempts to communicate during his free agency this summer, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Some of them believe that the four-time MVP already knew he was going to sign with the Cavs when he met with Riley shortly before announcing his decision.

Western Notes: Barea, Warriors, Wallace

October 4th, 2014 at 9:15pm CST by Cray Allred

Timberwolves coach and president of basketball ops Flip Saunders continues to praise point guard J.J. Barea‘s play in training camp, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Barea has been on the block for a trade or release, but sees himself as a team fixture. Whether Saunders is leaning toward keeping Barea around, or merely trying to inflate his trade value, remains to be seen. Here’s a look at the rest of tonight’s Western notes:

Andrew Bogut‘s primary backup, Festus Ezeli is hurt, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters including Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group that he is content with bigs Marreese Speights and Ognjen Kuzmic when asked if Golden State is in need of another center (Twitter link). Kerr’s outlook will need to change for camp invite Mitchell Watt to secure one of the two open regular season roster spots in Golden State.
Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace came out on top of some front-office turmoil in Memphis this summer, and he tells Ronald Tillery of Commercial Appeal [subscription-only] that his commitment to the game has routinely paid off. “My staying power is pretty simplistic. This is as good a job as I can get,” said Wallace. “I do not have a college degree, there’s a limitation on what I can do. I’m not going to Wall Street. I’m not walking across the street for executive training. I’m realistic. For someone who loves basketball, it’s light years better than anything else I can do. And change is a norm in the NBA, especially in the front office and coaching ranks.”
Wallace also revealed that he has less autonomy than he did in his previous tenure as GM in Memphis. “The reality of NBA front offices in 2014 is they are highly collaborative. You have very few czars in the league,” Wallace said. “Having said all of that, the misconception is that you arrive at a consensus. Most times, somebody in the organization drives a decision. The better organizations probably have more consistent decision making. I’m in contact and they know my opinion on things. The good thing right now and when I was brought back is we’re rolling as a team and how the team is perceived. It’s not a reclamation project.”

Western Notes: Beasley, Allen, Kings

October 1st, 2014 at 7:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace says Michael Beasley is one of six guys in training camp with a chance to show the team they deserve to snag the last regular-season roster spot, Teresa M. Walker of The Associated Press writes. “It’s up to him to show us, make the case for himself then we’ll see where this goes,” Wallace said. “We’re just at the beginning of it with training camp started, and obviously he’s someone that’s very talented … His career hasn’t gone the way he would’ve liked but this is the perfect place for him to rebound.”

Here’s more from out west:

Clippers coach Doc Rivers said that free agent Ray Allen was not a candidate to take the team’s final roster spot since Los Angeles has a glut of shooting guards already, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). Allen hasn’t announced if he will play this season or retire despite numerous teams having interest in his services.
Rivers also added that Joe Ingles and Jared Cunningham are candidates for the team’s final regular-season roster spot, tweets Bolch. Both players are in training camp on non-guaranteed deals.
In his season preview for the Kings, Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio predicts a 40-win season and Sacramento missing out on the playoffs. Amico believes that the Kings are still one star player away from becoming a factor in the west.

West Notes: Jokic, Kanter, Burks, Gasol, Beasley

September 30th, 2014 at 7:50pm CST by Alex Lee

Here are the latest news and notes coming out of the Western Conference on Tuesday night:

There’s been no word of a deal between the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, and his name isn’t among the 19 on the preseason roster that the Nuggets released today, so presumably the 41st overall pick from this year’s draft will remain under contract with Serbia’s KK Mega Vizura this season.
On the heels of yesterday’s report that the Jazz have opened extension talks with Enes Kanter and Alec Burks, GM Dennis Lindsey said the team anticipates the duo to be with the Jazz for a “long time,” writes Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune. “They’re both valued members and we’re really proud of where they’re at as people and as players,” Lindsey said. “We’ll see if we can get something done early … but we anticipate both of them being with the Jazz for a long time.”
When asked about his impending free agency next summer, Marc Gasol reiterated his affinity for his teammates and the city of Memphis, writes Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal in a subscription-only piece. Gasol also suggested that it would be hard to sign an extension prior to next summer knowing how quickly things can change in the NBA. Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said in August he’s determined to keep Gasol in Memphis for the rest of his career.
Also from Calkins’ story, Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger had the following to say when asked what it would take for Michael Beasley to end up on the roster: “Just be as good as he can be on the court and off the court. He’s going to have to come in and take somebody’s spot, and he knows that.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Southwest Notes: Grizzlies, Rockets, Baynes

September 27th, 2014 at 7:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

The absence of Nick Calathes for the first 13 games because of his suspension will leave the Grizzlies thin at the point, and there’s a decent chance it’ll have an effect on how many players the team carries out of camp, coach Dave Joerger admits. Joerger shared his thoughts in a subscription-only Q&A with Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.

“We might need an insurance policy,” Joerger said. “But you’ve got some guys that come in and one area affects the other because we have 14 spots [filled]. We can only keep one. If one guy wows you in an area, then you’re dealing with risk/reward. You might be kind of naked with two point guards. Can Courtney [Lee] swing over there? I don’t know. Being at the [luxury] tax and having 14 roster spots, it’ll be interesting.”

Here’s more from around the Southwest Division:

The Rockets granted Akil Mitchell a partial guarantee worth $150K on his deal, which runs two seasons at the minimum salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports. The guarantee, fairly sizable for a player of his caliber, might be an enticement for Mitchell to end up playing for the team’s D-League affiliate, Pincus speculates.
John Holland has a $20K partial guarantee on his minimum-salary contract with the Spurs, which runs for two seasons, Pincus reports (Twitter link).
In the same tweet, Pincus confirms his earlier report that the Spurs used part of their $5.035MM mid-level exception rather than Early Bird rights to sign Aron Baynes. That’s even though he’ll make precisely $2.077MM, the amount of the biannual exception, on his one-year deal. It’s curious, since using Early Bird rights would have allowed the Spurs to preserve their mid-level, and thus greater flexibility for signing free agent target Ray Allen or someone else, so perhaps there are more details at play that have yet to be reported.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban believes his team has been the beneficiary of the unwillingness of other NBA clubs to show patience with young talent that’s yet to blossom, as he told reporters, including Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “I think one of the things we’ve been really good at is finding what I call fallen angels, guys who other teams had a lot of aspirations for but for whatever reason couldn’t fit,” Cuban said. “Al [Al-Farouq Aminu] was the first call I made when free agency hit. These are guys that I think, even though they don’t have big names and not everybody knows who they are, are going to have big impacts, and I think that’s one way you get younger.”

Western Notes: Rockets, Kerr, Nuggets

September 27th, 2014 at 3:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Rockets had quite a difficult offseason. From being spurned by Chris Bosh, losing Chandler Parsons to the Mavs in free agency, and dealing away Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik for essentially nothing in return, as far as the current roster is concerned, it’s been a rough few months in Houston. In his training camp preview, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle looks at the main questions facing the franchise.

Here’s more from out west:

Steve Kerr spent time over the summer building relationships with his Warriors players, and he says he isn’t concerned that the widespread support for Mark Jackson within the locker room last year will be a factor, as he tells Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group.
Kenneth Faried, J.J. Hickson, and Darrell Arthur will all play major roles in any success the Nuggets have this season. Demetrius Jacobs of NBA.com breaks down the power forwards on Denver’s roster and what each brings to the court. Jacobs also looks at the Nuggets’ centers in a separate article.
In a subscriber’s only piece, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal breaks down the Grizzlies‘ power forwards, and believes Jon Leuer‘s production as Zach Randolph‘s backup will be a key factor this season.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Grizzlies Officially Sign Beasley, Five Others

September 25th, 2014 at 2:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Grizzlies formally announced the signings of Michael Beasley, Patrick Christopher, Earl Clark, Luke Hancock, Kalin Lucas and Hassan Whiteside via press release. The moves had been expected for all six, since each was reported to have come to terms on a deal with the team.

All six are on non-guaranteed contracts. The Grizzlies have the capacity to give more than the rookie minimum to Chrisopher, Hancock and Lucas, but it’s likely they’ve received minimum-salary arrangements just like the veteran additions for camp.

Beasley probably has the inside track for joining the team’s 14 players on fully guaranteed pacts for opening night, though Clark plays the same positions and looms as a threat should Beasley falter.

Grizzlies Sign Michael Beasley For Camp

September 23rd, 2014 at 6:53pm CST by Alex Lee

THURSDAY, 2:30pm: The deal is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 6:53pm: Michael Beasley has reached an agreement on a non-guaranteed contract with the Grizzlies, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Beasley spent this week working out with Memphis, according to Wojnarowski, who writes that the former No. 2 overall pick has chosen the Grizzlies because of the opportunity to make the team as a backup power forward. The Memphis roster now stands at 20, but with only 14 fully guaranteed deals Beasley figures to have a reasonable shot to break camp with the team. The Grizzlies are limited to giving him the minimum, since the sliver of their mid-level exception that they have remaining exceeds the amount of the rookie minimum, but not the minimum for a player with the six years of experience that Beasley has.

The talented but troubled Kansas State product, still only 25 years old, was drafted by Miami in 2008 and spent time with the Timberwolves and Suns before returning to the Heat for a second term last season. The Jared Karnes client auditioned for the Spurs last week, had a pair of workouts with the Lakers earlier in the offseason and had reportedly drawn interest from a few other teams. Beasley would have liked to have re-signed with the Heat, but concerns over his defense and maturity persuaded the team against bringing him back, we heard earlier this month.

Beasley has averaged 13.2 points and 4.9 rebounds over six years in the league. Last season, on a loaded Miami team, he posted career-low averages in points (7.9), rebounds (3.1) and minutes (15.1). He will be competing against fellow non-guaranteed camp invitees Earl Clark, Patrick Christopher, Luke Hancock, Kalin Lucas and Hassan Whiteside for the Grizzlies final roster spot.

Western Notes: Warriors, Harris, Grizzlies

September 21st, 2014 at 9:48pm CST by Zachary Links

Dennis Rogers of Clippers.com solicited the help of four national writers to preview the Pacific Division for 2014/15. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com says that the offseason move that will probably have the most impact will be replacing coach Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr. How the Warriors respond to losing a popular coach is critical to how the division will shake out, Shelburne opines. More from the Western Conference..

Mavericks guard Devin Harris says his squad believes that they’re even better than last season, according to Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram (Twitter links). The Mavs had an active offseason which included adding Chandler Parsons and trading for Tyson Chandler.
While the Grizzlies are certainly a team worthy of respect, they did not do enough this summer for Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders to expect significant improvement. While Hamitlon likes some of their moves, like re-signing Zach Randolph to a two-year, $20MM extension, the Grizzlies could be leapfrogged by the Pelicans in his estimation.
The Grizzlies shook up their front office this summer but General Manager Chris Wallace decided to more or less stay the course, writes Adi Joseph of USA Today Sports. Still, Memphis brought in Vince Carter to replace Mike Miller as the veteran swingman off the bench, and the team drafted two productive college players in Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes.